Princella D. Smith
Princella D. Smith is the Founder and Chairman of Engage the Nation. She is the Founder and President of Princella Smith Strategies, a strategic communications and general political, corporate, and non-profit consulting firm.
In 2010, Princella vied to become America’s youngest Member of Congress as a candidate for the First District of Arkansas at age 26. After only a 3-month run, she completed the primary race with roughly 30% of the vote and garnered the support of national Republican leaders, Newt Gingrich and Mary Matalin. Princella also secured the endorsement of the Arkansas Gazette, the state’s leading statewide newspaper.
The Gazette said of Princella: “Every congressional district should have a candidate who’s this outgoing, smart and just plain eager to get to work on your behalf-and with enough enthusiasm to light up the whole state…no matter what issue she’s addressing informally, cordially and forcefully at the time, what stands out about Princella Smith is that, at the ripe old age of 26, she’s smart beyond her years-and doesn’t always stick to the worn-out party line. She doesn’t have talking points. She just talks to you.”
Princella began public speaking at age 4. Consequently, at age 9, she and her brothers were in high demand as keynote speakers for various church-based or educational-based events. Among their many speeches, they were perhaps most known for quoting the entire “I Have A Dream” speech and Dr. Martin Luther King’s last sermon.
Princella’s passion for politics solidified in high school when she was sponsored by the Wynne chapter of the Women’s American Legion Auxiliary to attend Arkansas Girls State where she was elected as the 2001 Girls State Governor out of roughly 900 girls statewide.
That same summer, she was granted her first internship with then Arkansas Lt. Governor Win Rockefeller. Princella’s most memorable moment in politics happened during that internship when she was asked at the last minute to write a keynote college graduation speech for Rockefeller. Rockefeller gave the speech verbatim. According to his Chief of Staff, Rockefeller had “never done that before”. Princella often says: “To see your billionaire, world-famous, Lt. Governor quote your words verbatim is overwhelming. Do you know what that does to a kid from the Delta?”
Princella is a proud Wynne Yellowjacket. She lettered in high school basketball where she led the team in scoring and rebounds and to its first state playoff appearance in years. She was chosen to the Arkansas All-Star Basketball team, elected as class president, and graduated with academic honors.
During her collegiate years, Princella participated heavily in statewide and national government including internships with former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, U.S. Congressman John Boozman of Arkansas, and a clerkship at the U.S. Department of Labor.
She was propelled into the national spotlight in 2004 when she won MTV’s “Stand Up and Holla” essay/speech contest and became a prime time speaker at the Republican National Convention in New York City addressing the nation on the same night as First Lady Laura Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. The next night, she addressed the Youth Convention where she was introduced by Congressman Boozman.
She has served as a Communications Director on Capitol Hill and as an advocate for several of today’s pressing issues as the National Spokesperson for American Solutions, an organization founded by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. During the 2006 election cycle, she served as the E-Campaign Director for then Maryland Lt. Governor and current Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele managing all electronic communications for the campaign, including the official campaign website.
She has been a guest lecturer on the topics of “New Media” and “Grassroots Activism” at The Leadership Institute, an organization committed to identifying, recruiting, training and placing citizens in the public policy process.
Princella is also a frequent guest speaker for various groups and organizations and a past Visiting Fellow for the Independent Women’s Forum.
Princella is a regular political contributor and has been featured and/or written for several national media outlets including: FOX News, FOX Business News, CNN, CBS, MSNBC, BET, Bloomberg News, PBS, France 24, EuroAmerican News, Danish Broadcasting, NPR, the New York Times, USA Today, XM Satellite Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Essence Magazine, YouTube News, XM Radio, AOL Radio/TV, Black America Web, RocktheVote.com, Huffington Post, and several local press/media outlets among others.
Princella is a graduate of Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, where she majored in Political Science with minors in Communications and History and was the offensive player of the year for the Lady Tigers basketball team. She is a graduate of the Buckley School of Public Speaking and the owner of Princella Smith Strategies, LLC.
In 2010, she was selected by the American Council of Young Political Leaders as a September delegate to Turkey.
Moshe Starkman
Moshe Starkman is the CTO for Engage the Nation.
Moshe is the CEO of Moshe Technologies, LLC. A software development and marketing firm that specializes in social media, content management, and political campaign development.
Elizabeth Aymond
Elizabeth Aymond is a Board Member of Engage the Nation.
She is the sitting Chairman of the Arkansas Young Republicans Federation and the Communications Director for Americans For Prosperity.
Previously, Elizabeth served as the Communications Director for the Arkansas Republican Party.
She is widely known in Arkansas political circles as an avid organizer and brilliant messenger from the establishment to the grassroots.
Charles D. Ellison
Charles D. Ellison is the Vice President of Development for Engage the Nation.
Charles is author of the critically-acclaimed political thriller TANTRUM, Huffington Post and Politico.com Arena contributor, and Host of "The New School" on Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Channels 130 (POTUS) and 169 (The Power).
Based in Washington, D.C., he is Senior Fellow in Public Policy and Chief Advisor for the Center for New Politics and Policy at the University of Denver and Visiting Fellow for the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet at George Washington University.
California-born and Philadelphia-raised, Charles is a former Congressional speechwriter, noted public policy analyst, media expert and writer. Charles regularly lectures for the Close Up Foundation and is a Youth Radio board member. As a commentator, he has been featured in numerous television, radio and publishing venues, including: Sirius/XM Radio; CNN; C-SPAN; WEAA-FM; WVON-AM; WPFW-FM; BlackAmericaWeb; SkyTV; The Philadelphia Tribune; RealClearPolitics; BET; ABC News; The Los Angeles Times; The Washington Times; The Boston Globe; Washington Business Journal; Roll Call, National Journal; Salon.com; The Hill; and National Public Radio, among others.
Jerri Ann Henry
Jerri Ann Henry is a Board Member of Engage the Nation.
Immediately after graduating from Texas A&M University in 2005, Jerri Ann incorporated her campaign experience into a different function, serving as the Director of Team2k, an online based children’s health and nutrition non-profit organization.
Shortly thereafter, Jerri Ann spent moved to Kansas City to work at AdFarm, an agriculturally focused advertising agency. While there she served as the account executive for several clients including Bayer Crop Science. The work produced under her management went on to win several awards including Best New Product Introduction and a nomination for best Multimedia campaign.
As a Senior Account Executive at The Hawthorn Group, Jerri Ann managed the grassroots efforts for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Tasked with converting an over 200,000 member grassroots army to a virtual, online task force, Jerri Ann and the team built interactive tools and moved the entire task force online. In conjunction with online development Jerri Ann co-managed a national grassroots outreach campaign to change the conversation surrounding coal.
Jerri Ann is also active in a number of women’s organization and sits on the board of the Texas State Society.
Richard Ivory
Richard Ivory is the Vice President of Urban Affairs for Engage the Nation.
Richard is the Publisher and Founder, of Hip-HopRepublican.com, a blog that delves into urban issues from a centrist perspective. Mr. Ivory is a political consultant who has worked on over a dozen political campaigns around the country. He has worked for both the Republican National Committee and was the College outreach director for Republican Youth Majority. He is the founder of The John Langston Forum and is at present the College outreach director for Republicans for Black Empowerment. In 2008, he finished an
internship with one of the largest labor/ business advocacy groups in the nation the Business and Labor Coalition of New York.
During this election season, Richard covered the inauguration of President Obama, for The BBC World News. Besides working in the political arena, he advocates for the homeless and mentally ill.
As a centrist leaning Republican, Richard has been featured on BET, The BBC, The New York Times, National Public Radio, CNN and US News & World Report. He is presently a political contributor to FrumForum.com a site started by former presidential speechwriter David Frum. FF is dedicated to the modernization and renewal of the Republican Party.